Local News in Brief : Traffic System Expanded

Traffic lights along 10 miles of Ventura Boulevard are being added to the Los Angeles computerized traffic control network, the largest expansion of the system since its debut near the Coliseum during the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Transportation workers have switched on signals at the first of 189 Ventura Boulevard intersections that will be connected to the synchronized system under a $7.2-million project to relieve congestion along the San Fernando Valley’s busiest street.

The Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control system--in which red or green lights are activated to ease congestion--was the first of its type in the United States, run from an underground City Hall traffic command post.

“Our grand plan is to eventually computerize all 3,800 of the city’s signalized intersections,” said Kang Hu, chief traffic signal engineer for the city. Downtown Los Angeles was added to the system in early 1987, the only other expansion of the network.